Auntie in Mandalay (video clip)

At our chapati stand we digest the news of baby Theo.

Mandalay, Burma

"Welcome to Mandalay!" exclaimed the young man in the Manchester United shirt. The banners on the walls of the famous palace announced "Foreign Sycophants Shall Be Crushed". Burma's people are distinctly more hospitable than its regime.

In a city as exotic as Mandalay we were happy to simply absorb the bustle from a chapati stand sipping endless tsai before our evening entertainment, the vaudeville troupe, "The Moustache Brothers".

Their tiny front room was the venue for exuberant dancing, slapstick gags and extravagant costumes. We couldn't help but laugh along, if only for the remarkable spirit of the ageing performers. Three members of the family act have spent years in prison for making jokes at the expense of the junta. One is still behind bars.

Rangoon, Burma

Only after much deliberation and research did we purchase a visa for Burma. Neither Russia nor China raised a thought for 'travel ethics', but we now confronted our own backpacker impact. Burma's regime is particularly odious. We made a plan: to go, to see for ourselves and to try to support the people, not the junta. In the process we found a new heroine: Aung San Suu Kyi.

Passports stamped, a flight from Bangkok and we were in Rangoon with its golden national icon of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Lost City of Angkor, Cambodia

We braved corrupt immigration police and pestilential tuk-tuk drivers to reach Cambodia's sensational lost city of Angkor. Cambodia felt like a broken country but this was its wonderful jewel.

Daybreak at the main temple of Angkor Wat is a sight worth a thousand photographs; yet it was the enigmatic faces of Bagan temple which really beguiled us.

The innumerable temples hold a mix of imagery drawn from Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism and the reigning god-kings of the time. Built between the 9th and 14th centuries these are archaeological treasures as mysterious as they are stunning.

The site was lost for centuries, allowing the jungle to creep in and intertwine itself with the ancient stone ruins.

Exploring the huge area we couldn't help indulging our Indiana Jones and Lara Croft fantasies.

Bangkok, Thailand

Sad to leave Laos but keen to pick up our pace, we boarded for an epic train journey through the 'Land of Smiles' to Bangkok.

Often being overwhelmed by the crowds, heat and smells of the big city, we would dive into the tranquility of Wat Pho Temple to admire Bangkok's only laid back citizen: the reclining Buddha.

We were to pass through Bangkok several times over the next six weeks. On the final stay we witnessed, but didn't quite comprehend, the political demonstrations held by the anti-government 'reds'.

Boots in Bangkok (video clip)

After six months of the unfamiliar, Sam spies an old haunt.

Vientiane, Laos

In Laos' sleepy capital we ate. After that nasty bug Phil needed to restore himself and Sam just loved the flavours. Lao food is deliciously fresh with coriander, lemongrass, banana flower and lime as its staple ingredients.

Add to this mix a liberal dose of French influence and Vientiane was the first place on our travels where we could truly relax into filling ourselves up with great food.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng is a silly place where the thing to do is very silly indeed. We joined the teenage gap-year kids to indulge in... floating down the river, from bar to bar, in a tractor inner tube. As we said: very silly.

Luang Prabang, Laos

The history and beauty of Luang Prabang is unsurpassed. A place where orange-robed monks stroll alongside well-to-do tourists between the dozens of monasteries and French colonial buildings.

A shame then, for Phil, that it was his turn to be laid low by a tummy bug. Sam was left on her own to explore the UNESCO city and its sights.

Up early to enjoy the dawn spectacle of lines of monks snaking around the streets to collect alms from humble local believers.

Life On The Nam Ou River, Northern Laos.

On the bank of the Nam Ou river is where it all happens; boatmen jostle for business, children splash about and women natter whilst washing clothes, hair and lettuce.

In Meung Ngoi we simply kicked back in our bamboo bungalow and absorbed the rhythm of village life.

Until, that is, we found ourselves drilling "I see mountains and trees" to a classroom of teenagers. For a few lessons we were the guest English teachers in a school tucked in the jungle and overlooked by limestone karst mountains. In break-times we walked and kayaked to explore this sleepy backwater, alarmed to discover boats, benches, flowerpots and gateposts fashioned from old American bomb shells dropped in Nixon's 'Secret War'.

Once school broke up we joined the dog's dinner of holiday celebrations before floating further downstream to again join the mighty Mekong.

How English Teachers Relax (video clip)

Two fraught lessons and us novices hit the gin.

Nam Ha Protected Area, Laos

As we crossed the China-Laos border on another epic bus journey, it struck us that we had now travelled over 10,000 miles.

Almost on arrival, we chanced to meet Thong Wam who persuaded us to be guinea pigs on his untested new trail. We were soon off on our 2 day jungle recce in a party of 14 - including two village chiefs, various tourism/forestry officials and expert local guides.

Lunch, sitting on giant banana leaves and munching freshly-picked roots and bulbs dipped in hot chilli paste, made an exotic picnic. Whilst our companions artfully machete-hacked their way up through the thick jungle, we crashed and stumbled in their wake. Our overnight destination was a large Akha village in the hills.

We were clearly out of place in this traditional ethnic minority village where the women, topless but wearing elaborate headdresses, chewed on bright red betel nut, and the children stared with guarded curiosity at our big noses and blue eyes.